Programs

Bio

Since 2004, Laurie Garrett has been a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in New York. Ms. Garrett is the only writer ever to have been awarded all three of the Big "Ps" of journalism: the Peabody, the Polk, and the Pulitzer. Her expertise includes global health systems, chronic and infectious diseases, and bioterrorism.

Ms. Garrett is the best-selling author of The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1994) and Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health (Hyperion Press, 2000). Over the years, she has also contributed chapters to numerous books, including AIDS in the World (Oxford University Press, 1993), edited by Jonathan Mann, Daniel Tarantola, and Thomas Netter, and Disease in Evolution: Global Changes and Emergence of Infectious Diseases (New York Academy of Sciences, 1994), edited by Mary E. Wilson. Her latest book is I Heard the Sirens Scream: How Americans Responded to the 9/11 and Anthrax Attacks.

She graduated with honors in biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She attended graduate school in the Department of Bacteriology and Immunology at University of California, Berkeley, and did laboratory research at Stanford University with Dr. Leonard Herzenberg. During her PhD studies, she started reporting on science news at KPFA, a local radio station. The hobby soon became far more interesting than graduate school, and she took a leave of absence to explore journalism. At KPFA, Ms. Garrett worked on a documentary, coproduced with Adi Gevins, that won the 1977 George Foster Peabody Award.

After leaving KPFA, Ms. Garrett worked briefly in the California Department of Food and Agriculture, assessing the human health impacts of pesticide use. She then went overseas, living and working in southern Europe and sub-Saharan Africa, freelance reporting for Pacifica Radio, Pacific News Service, BBC Radio, Reuters, Associated Press, and others. In 1980, she joined National Public Radio, working out of the network's San Francisco and, later, Los Angeles bureaus as a science correspondent. During her NPR years, Ms. Garrett received awards from the National Press Club (Best Consumer Journalism, 1982), the San Francisco Media Alliance (Meritorious Achievement Award in Radio, 1983), and the World Hunger Alliance (First Prize, Radio, 1987).

In 1988, Ms. Garrett left NPR to join the science writing staff of Newsday. Her Newsday reporting has earned several awards, including the Newsday Publisher's Award (Best Beat Reporter, 1990), Award of Excellence from the National Association of Black Journalists (for "AIDS in Africa," 1989), Deadline Club of New York (Best Beat Reporter, 1993), First Place from the Society of Silurians (for "Breast Cancer," 1994), and the Bob Considine Award of the Overseas Press Club of America (for "AIDS in India," 1995). She has also written for many publications, including Foreign Affairs, Esquire, Vanity Fair, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and Current Issues in Public Health. She has appeared frequently on national television programs, including ABC's Nightline, NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, The Charlie Rose Show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dateline, The International Hour (CNN), and Talkback (CNN).

Ms. Garrett is a member of the National Association of Science Writers and served as the organization's president during the mid-1990s. She lives in Brooklyn Heights, New York.

The Human Microbiome and the Health of Individuals and Their Environments

The last decade has witnessed a shift in scientific perspective, driven by biologists' newfound ability to rapidly sequence the genetic blueprints of ecologies ranging from the human gut to Arctic permafrost. A global scale change to microbiomes, which are the aggregate of microorganisms such as bacteria, that inhabit the human body and all other environments, is underway, with deleterious effects on the world in which we live. Although the urgency of this situation is gravely understood by microbiologists, it is little known or understood by the general public or political leaders. From a foreign policy point of view, my interest is in considering how changes to microbiomes may serve as "canaries in the coal mine" for climate change impact, and how essential planetary functions may be altered by substantial microbiome damage. Are such transnational impacts subject to treaties, regulation, or global action? Can recognition of microbial impact provide a new political dimension to the global climate debate, and urgency for action given recognition that there are links to human health? My work on these issues will result in a book. I also convene the Human Microbiome and the Health of Individuals and Their Environments Roundtable Series to discuss these questions.

Ebola Outbreak

The current Ebola epidemic, which began in March 2014 in Guinea, has been described as spiraling out of control by the World Health Organization, and is expected to persist well into 2015. The strain of virus claiming lives today is the same one that first emerged in 1976, in the Congo rainforest, an outbreak about which I wrote in my book, The Coming Plague. I was also awarded a Pulitzer Prize in journalism in 1996 for my coverage of the Ebola epidemic in Kikwit, Zaire—which was also chronicled in my book Betrayal of Trust—and have been providing analysis and insight into the current outbreak, primarily through op-eds and magazine articles, and also through media appearances.

Featured Publications

Two new revolutions in biology—gain-of-function research and synthetic biology—are forcing policymakers to rethink current national and international surveillance and regulatory systems, and any resolution will require international buy-in since the threat entails all living organisms.

Medicines are increasingly the product of complex supply chains, introducing vulnerabilities to their reliability and safety. CFR Senior Fellow Laurie Garrett lays out how G8 and G20 nations can help to remedy the drug safety crisis.

Laurie Garrett, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, explores the lasting impact of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the anthrax attacks that followed on disaster preparedness and health policy in the United States. Garrett argues that "all our readiness response depends on well-funded police, well-funded fire departments, well-funded hospitals, well-funded public health infrastructures, and precisely the opposite is where we are going right now." Garrett cautions that U.S. preparedness for a major terrorist attack may be decreasing. "As budgets are being cut at the federal level, the state level, and the local level, we're actually less ready than we were in 2001," Garrett says.

Renewing America

Famine in the Horn of Africa underscores the problems of an international foreign aid community struggling to keep up with its commitments at a time of a falling dollar and rising food prices, says CFR's Laurie Garrett.

Missing from the body of literature about 9/11 and the anthrax scare that followed is a sense of what 2001 felt like for those that experienced the events in a very personal way. This bookbridges the divide and offers new insights into the period, presenting its profound implications for public health, mass psychology, governance, scientific integrity, social resilience and cohesion, criminal justice, and America's sense of itself.

With the UN meeting on AIDS funding this week, CFR's Laurie Garrett says the slow response to the AIDS epidemic was the single biggest failure in public health and argues the need to double funding for new treatments to stop the spread of the disease.

On the heels of the 30th anniversary since AIDS was recognized, the UN General Assembly will meet to discuss the next course of HIV/AIDS funding. CFR Senior Fellow for Global Health Laurie Garrett traces the initial failures to contain the spread of AIDS, and calls on international policymakers to adequately fund the combat of the deadly disease.

While many questions remain about the problems at Fukushima nuclear plant, comparisons with the 1986 Chernobyl incident suggest Japan's government is taking the right steps to mitigate radiation damage, says CFR's Laurie Garrett.

Renewing America

With food prices at historic levels, unrest is mounting around the world, particularly in import-dependent regions such as the Middle East. CFR's Laurie Garrett says to meet demand going forward, countries will need to enhance food production and efficiencies.

The cholera epidemic that has added to the list of Haiti's post-earthquake miseries is a reminder that what Haiti needs more than anything else is good governance that would lead to better infrastructure and safe water.

Events

The Dual-Use Research: Repercussions for Security roundtable series examined issues of dual-use research of concern, synthetic biology, do-it-yourself biology, and international governance and oversight. These meetings brought together experts in the fields of synthetic biology dual-use research, and laboratory safety and regulation, to broaden the debate beyond the controversy surrounding the publication of two H5N1 flu-transmission studies in 2011–2012 and to discuss various aspects of the dual-use research of concern conundrum.

This roundtable series is made possible by the generous support of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Presider:

Ebola Update: Assessment from Africa

Speakers:

Nancy Aossey, President and CEO, International Medical Corps, Laurie Garrett, Senior Fellow for Global Health, Council on Foreign Relations; Author, Ebola: Story of an Outbreak, David Nabarro, Special Envoy on Ebola, United Nations

The International AIDS Conference: Wrap Up

Speaker:

Presider:

A Conversation with Peter Piot

Speakers:

Peter Piot, Director, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; Author, No Time to Lose: A Life in Pursuit of Deadly Viruses, Michel Sidibe, Executive Director, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS

Presider:

Panelists:

John Lange, Senior Program Officer for Developing-Country Policy & Advocacy, Global Health Program, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Former Special Representative on Avian and Pandemic Influenza, U.S. Department of State, Helen Branswell, Medical Reporter, The Canadian Press

Presider:

Is the Bird Flu Threat Still Real and Are We Prepared?

Speakers:

Bruce Gellin, Director, National Vaccine Program Office, Office of Public Health and Science, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Michael T. Osterholm, Director, Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy; Professor, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota; Author, “Unprepared for a Pandemic” (Foreign Affairs, March/April 2007)

Speakers:

Presider:

Speakers:

Mary Robinson, President, Realizing Rights: the Ethical Globalization Initiative; Professor in the Professional Practice of International Affairs, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University; former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; former Pres

The Threat of Global Pandemics

Presider:

James F. Hoge Jr., Peter G. Peterson Chair, Editor, Foreign Affairs

Speakers:

Anthony S. Fauci, Director, National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Rita Colwell, Chair, Royal Institution World Science Assembly's Pandemic Preparedness Project, Michael Osterholm, Director, Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, University of Minnesota; Associate Director, National Center for Food Protection, Department of Homeland Security; Professor, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Laurie Garrett, Senior Fellow for Global Health, Council on Foreign Relations

Presider:

Speaker:

Press/Panels

Laurie Garrett spoke with Jason Beaubien for NPR's Morning Edition to discuss the case of a man died in New Jersey of a hemorrhagic fever this week. She speculates that "if this had been an Ebola case, if the individual had gone to a hospital and not acknowledged that he'd been in Liberia and it had turned out to be Ebola, that would indeed have been a major failure of the screening system and potentially very dangerous to his health care providers."

Laurie Garrett appeared on KPBS Midday Edition with Maureen Cavanaugh to discuss her visit to San Diego State University, which comes as the World Health Organization continues to treat Ebola patients in West Africa. The virus has so far killed more than 10,500 people in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

On this River to River segment, aired on Iowa Public Radio, Ben Kieffer talks with Laurie Garrett, author of The Coming Plague and most recently, Ebola: Story of an Outbreak, about "over the top" media reactions to outbreaks.

A new study has detected a resistant strain of malaria in Myanmar near the Indian border, raising concerns that resistance could soon extend its hold to sub-Saharan Africa, where more than 90 percent of malaria deaths occur. Laurie Garrett appeared on The Diane Rehm Show to discuss new concerns about combating malaria worldwide.

Laurie Garrett is quoted in this article about reforms to the World Health Organization, which has been pummeled by sharp criticism after its initial slow response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Fifteen years after measles was declared eradicated in the United States, more than 70 people have come down with the disease — an outbreak that started at Disneyland. Laurie Garrett appears on a panel on KCRW's To The Point with host Warren Olney to discuss how this outbreak started and what it indicates about vaccination rates.

The World Health Organization reported that both Liberia and Guinea have hit key health targets by isolating Ebola patients and safely burying victims. Even so, the fight to end Ebola is far from over. Judy Woodruff talks to Laurie Garrett on PBS NewsHour about why some Ebola treatment centers are empty and why money pledged to end the outbreak hasn’t materialized.

Although some in Liberia are now referring to Ebola in the past-tense, the epidemic looks likely to continue past its ninth month. Laurie Garrett just returned from Sierra Leone and Liberia, and she appears on WBEZ's Worldview to give an update on what the epidemic looks like now.

For the Humanosphere podcast, Tom Paulson talks with Laurie Garrett about Ebola. This Ebola outbreak is unprecedented in size and scope, and Garrett was among those warning early days that this outbreak deserved a massive and rapid response from the international community.

Host Carol Castiel speaks with Laurie Garrett on Voice of America's Press Conference USA about the initial failures of the international community in detecting and stopping the spread of the deadly Ebola virus. Laurie discusses the causes of the slow response, and the various political, cultural, and social factors that may inhibit efforts by the United States, the UN and others to contain the epidemic.

This week Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, passed away. A Dallas-area hospital initially turned him away, and his death has raised questions about what might have happened if he had been diagnosed and admitted to the hospital sooner. As healthcare workers are forced to wait for symptoms of Ebola to materialize before they can treat patients, Laurie Garrett argues on Science Friday that rapid diagnostic testing tools could be a game changer in this ongoing outbreak.

Ebola reports every day now, from West Africa and well beyond. The Spanish nurse in trouble. An American cameraman being treated in Nebraska. The first case that walked into an American hospital, Thomas Duncan, dead today, in that hospital in Dallas. Is America ready for Ebola? The CDC says we'll stop it in its tracks. But 80 percent of American nurses surveyed last week said their hospitals have not taught them about it. Laurie Garrett joins Tom Ashbrook on WBUR's On Point to discuss these issues.

Forty-one percent of Americans have little to no confidence that the government can prevent a major Ebola outbreak in the United States. NBC's John Yang and Sarah Dalloff report the latest on the Ebola patients being treated in the United States on MSNBC's The Cycle. Then, Laurie Garrett talks about the challenges of stopping Ebola in a globalized world.

As Americans process the news about an American photojournalist contracting Ebola and the reality that the disease has made its way to U.S. shores undetected, is Ebola in danger of becoming a normal disease in West Africa? NBC's Mark Potter, Laurie Garrett, and Frankie Edozien, director of the Reporting Africa Program at NYU's Journalism School, discuss with Dorian Warren on MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry Show.

On Charlie Rose The Week, Laurie Garrett talks about the recently diagnosed case of Ebola in the United States, and why everyone should be far more concerned about the continued, exponential spread of the disease in Africa.

Yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced that Ebola has reached the shores of the United States. A Liberian man who traveled from his home country to visit relatives in Dallas, Texas late last month has been diagnosed with the deadly virus.

On The Takeaway with John Hockenberry, Laurie Garrett explains how likely the virus is to spread, and how the CDC and the WHO are handling the outbreak.

Laurie Garrett is quoted in this Foreign Policy article about foreign assistance to West Africa to fight Ebola, saying what's happened is a dangerous neocolonial organization of aid and going down that path could get donors into sticky situations if the virus can't be controlled.

Laurie Garrett appears on CBC's Quirks and Quarks, expressing her fears that we're paying the price now for gutting our international public health capacity with cuts to the World Health Organization. The promise of a massive effort by many countries in West Africa may be too little, too late, to prevent the worst case scenario of a complete breakdown of social order and devastation to a whole region of Africa by this terrible disease.

Laurie Garrett is interviewed by Scott Simon on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday about President Obama's financial and military commitment to fight the Ebola epidemic, and how this outbreak differs from the one on which she reported in Zaire in 1995.

Laurie Garrett responds to the announcement from President Barack Obama that the U.S. government will send up to 3,000 military personnel to West Africa in an effort that could cost up to $750 million over the next six months in this Washington Post article.

With a pending announcement from the Obama administration about the depoyment of military personnel to West Africa, Laurie Garrett is quoted in The Hill saying, "I don't think we're even close to playing catch up, much less mount a response that will get us ahead of the virus."

Laurie Garrett of the Council on Foreign Relations and Lawrence Gostin of Georgetown Law School join Judy Woodruff on PBS NewsHour for a deep dive into the plan to deploy U.S. aid and military support to fight Ebola in West Africa.

Laurie Garrett appears on Democracy Now! to discuss the current state of the Ebola outbreak, saying that the world is at a turning point. We either find a way to mobilize in an unprecedented way, or there will be 250,000 cases by the end of the year.

As part of the NIH Global Health Interest Group on global health "hot topics," Laurie Garrett gives a talk on the current Ebola outbreak, and explains why this public health emergency is a national security threat. Laurie's speech begins at 2:09.

In this second part of a two-part segment on MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry Show, Laurie Garrett comments on President Obama's statements about the Ebola outbreak on Meet the Press and calls for immediate action from the U.S. government.

The Ebola crisis is now taking a considerable toll on the political stability and economic security of West Africa. Mark Quarterman, Laurie Garrett, William Karesh, and Frankie Edozien join MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry Show to discuss. This is the first part of a two-part segment.

With each week the news about the Ebola crisis seems to grow more dire, with the virus now having surfaced in a fifth country—Senegal. Joel Montgomery, from the CDC Ebola Response Team in Liberia and Laurie Garrett join MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry Show to discuss.

Laurie Garrett appeared on Democracy Now! with Larry Gostin, Georgetown University, and Adia Benton, Brown University, to discuss what needs to be understood about the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Even with more than one thousand people dead in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Libera as a result of the current Ebola outbreak, "The response is so anemic, so much less than what is needed," says Laurie Garrett on Charlie Rose: The Week.

Two Americans received an experimental treatment after they became infected with Ebola while working with patients in West Africa. Heinz Feldmann, chief of the Laboratory of Virology at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, and Laurie Garrett, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, discuss how the serum works and if it should be used more widely on Science Friday.

The treatment of two Ebola-infected Americans with an experimental drug, Z-Mapp, raises the question of whether it has potential for widespread use in combating the outbreak in West Africa. Judy Woodruff gets perspective on the topic from two experts, Laurie Garrett of the Council on Foreign Relations and Dr. Robert Garry of Tulane University School of Medicine, on this segment of PBS's Newshour.

Laurie Garrett is cited in this op-ed by Scott Burns, the screenwriter of the film Contagion, in which he explains that the most worrisome aspect of the Ebola epidemic is human's inability to assess risk accurately.

Laurie Garrett joins the The Diane Rehm Show with Anthony Fauci, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health; Daniel Lucey, Georgetown University Medical Center; and Billy Fischer, University of North Carolina School of Medicine to discuss the worst Ebola outbreak in history.

Almost 700 people have died, and more than a thousand have been infected, in the worst epidemic since the Ebola virus was discovered in 1976. Laurie Garrett appears with Clair MacDougall; William Fischer, University of North Carolina; and Jeremy Youde, University of Minnesota at Duluth to examine this a massive challenge to the global effort to protect public health.

Laurie Garrett appears in a segment on NBC's Nightly News with Lester Holt to discuss the broader political implications of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, including what would happen if the disease spreads to Senegal or Nigeria. Segment begins at 4:26.

The death toll for the Ebola outbreak is steadily growing in West Africa. Laurie Garrett from the Council on Foreign Relations, Steve Monroe from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Tarik Jasarevic, spokesperson for the World Health Organization, join MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry Show to discuss.

The current Ebola outbreak in cities in Western Africa has become the most infectious, most deadly Ebola outbreak in history. Laurie Garrett joins the table on MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry Show to discuss.

The latest Ebola outbreak in West Africa is now the largest and deadliest outbreak ever. And unlike outbreaks of the past, it is affecting both rural and urban areas. On PBS NewsHour, Jeffrey Brown talks to Laurie Garrett about a recent summit on the outbreak, distrust building against health workers in infected areas and how porous borders make this outbreak so hard to contain.

In this talk at TEDxDanubia in Budapest, Laurie Garrett examines the three major revolutions in biology: synthetic biology, gain-of-function research, and metagenomics. She then asks if humanity has the proper procedures in place to prevent or to control a direction evolution mishap.

In a segment on PRI's The World, Laurie Garrett welcomes the White House's pledge to stop using fake vaccination campaigns in CIA tactics. She also gives historical background and analysis behind this decision, and on why some residents of Pakistan are still hesitant to let their children get vaccinated against diseases like polio.

Deadly childhood diseases once thought eradicated are making a comeback around the world. In some places, it's polio, where violence, religion and political paranoia have caused a drop in vaccinations. In the US, it's measles, where some parents have chosen not to vaccinate their children. Laurie Garrett appears on a panel discussion on To The Point with Warren Olney to discuss these outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.

Laurie Garrett is quoted in this article for Bloomberg.com about the most recent outbreak of Ebola that has killed at least 87 people in Africa, discussing how stigma and fear can exacerbate the spread of this deadly disease.

Laurie Garrett appeared on a panel at Georgetown Law School with Zeke Emmanuel and Edith Brown Weiss on major challenges to global health. The panel marked release of Lawrence Gostin's new book Global Health Law published by Harvard Press.

After visiting Fukushima in December 2013, Laurie Garrett reports in ForeignPolicy.com that 250,000 tons of radioactive soil is sitting in plastic bags around the nuclear plant, and explains that Japan does not know what to do with it.

In an article for the Sunday Times, Laurie Garrett discusses the legacy of the discredited research by Andrew Wakefield, and how the Council on Foreign Relations' map of vaccine-preventable outbreaks suggests, "where Wakefield's message has caught on, measles follows."

After the tragic reappearance of polio in Afghanistan's capital city, Kabul, Laurie Garrett and Maxine Builder explore how Taliban plots to obstruct polio vaccinations could derail many hard-fought gains in global health and development.

The ease and availability of global travel brings the threat of widespread contagion ever closer to reality. From time to time one of those diseases takes hold – bird flu, SARS and more recently, MERS, Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome. In a conversation with Dr. Norman Swan, host of Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Health Report, and Gareth Williams, professor of medicine at the University of Bristol, Laurie Garrett answers the question, "How much of a threat do such epidemics actually pose and how prepared are we for a plague?"

In a conversation with BBC Future at the Atlantic Meets the Pacific festival, Laurie Garrett discusses her fears that humanity is taking a lackluster approach to facing up to the problems of the future. From newly emerging diseases to lethal and drug-resistant strains of familiar plagues, Garrett believes people have become overly complacent about some of the biggest threats to life on Earth.

Laurie Garrett talks with Tavis Smiley on the Tavis Smiley Radio Show about her Foreign Affairs essay of the same title, which says the practice of synthetic biology holds great promise for humankind—it could lead to anything from cleaner water to a cure for cancer. But unchecked, it could also lead to Armageddon.

In this discussion on Fareed Zakaria's Fareed Zakaria GPS with Stephen Flynn, founding director of the Center for Resilient Studies at Northeastern University, Laurie Garrett discusses why the impact of Typhoon Haiyan was so deadly.

In this panel discussion on NPR's Science Friday, Laurie Garrett discusses the foreign policy implications of recent advances in synthetic biology. With the conversation focused on the iGEM competition, she praises the organization's emphasis on bioethics, but adds that one cannot assume those ethics will be translated to adult-run labs around the world.

Laurie Garrett, in an interview for WIRED, discusses dual-use research of concern and synthetic biology, emphasizing the point that scientists should not be left to their own devices, free from regulation and oversight.

In this article for Foreign Policy, Laurie Garrett examines the recent reports of two polio cases in Syria, which has not reported a case since 1999, and explains why polio is coming back from the brink of eradication.

In this op-ed for Politico, Laurie Garrett argues that before any missiles are launched by the Obama administration, several crucial diplomatic steps need to be taken to ensure that the use of chemical weapons doesn't become the region's "new normal."

Laurie Garrett explains what makes sarin gas dangerous to humans and reviews the chemical's deadly history in this op-ed for CNN Opinion. She then discusses the potential political implications of sarin's usage in Syria, concluding that "the Assad regime is playing with regional fire."

In a chapter for United Nations Development at a Crossroads, published by New York University's Center on International Cooperation, Laurie Garrett outlines five existential challenges facing global health today, writing that leaders and institutions that are key to global health have barely recognized these threats, much less developed policy solutions or adaptations.

In this episode of StarTalk Radio, Laurie Garrett talks with Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice about current outbreak of H7N9 and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus. She also answers questions from callers about a fungus that turns ants into zombies, pathogens that spread via rain, and the dangers of the anti-vaccine movement.

There is a new, and dangerous, coronavirus taking hold in Saudi Arabia, just as six million religious pilgrims are about to descend on the country from around the world. Without a more transparent international research and information-sharing system, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) could spread far beyond the bounds of the region for which it is named.

In this op-ed for CNN, Laurie Garrett discusses what it's like to read a bestselling novel only to find that the villain, "is, gulp, an awful lot like yourself," and debunks some of the global health myths in Dan Brown's Inferno .

In this podcast from the Star Talk Radio Show, zombies take a back seat to real life viral threats, thanks to Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Laurie Garrett. She describes how governments and viruses don't mix, from the ongoing Russian biological warfare apparatus to terrorists targeting polio aid workers in response to CIA activities to the SARS outbreak and its fatal cover up by the Chinese government.

Laurie Garrett offers a detailed account of how the H7N9 virus emerged and describes the two possible paths it may now follow, by pulling from her own experiences in the SARS epidemic ten years ago and reflecting on parallels between the two.

In a post for Fareed Zakaria's CNN GPS blog, Laurie Garrett gives a summary of the information released to date by Chinese health and agricultural authorities regarding the H7N9 outbreak, and then offers her analysis on the situation.

Laurie Garrett discusses the concerns that the new flu emerging in China could become a global problem with Marco Werman on PRI's "The World." This link features both the radio edit and the extended interview.

Laurie Garrett talks with Voice of America's Sarah Williams about the possibility that the recent deaths of pigs, ducks and swans in China may be related to a new strain of bird flu, H7N9 in this radio interview.

Laurie Garrett gave a talk at the Harvard School of Public Health, where she touched on a variety of current public health problems, ranging from 9/11 to antrax attacks and outbreaks of SARS, bird flu, and swine flu. This article from the Harvard Gazette summarizes the discussion.

This Health Affairs review of Laurie Garrett's book I Heard the Sirens Scream: How Americans Responded to the 9/11 Attacks gives a comprehensive summary, calling it an "outstanding, readable chronicle."

Laurie Garrett appeared on WBEZ Chicago's Afternoon Shift as part of an hour-long program about the science of infectious diseases to discuss emerging diseases, the factors that lead to outbreaks, and the importance of public health.

Laurie Garrett discusses the deadly Ebola outbreak in Uganda on Canada's CBC Radio program, As it Happens. In an interview, Garrett describes the nature of the virus and what its like to witness an Ebola outbreak first hand, reflecting on her time in Zaire during the Ebola epidemic of 1995.

Laurie Garrett discusses the deadly Ebola outbreak in Uganda on Canada's CBC Radio program, As it Happens. In an interview, Garrett describes the nature of the virus and what its like to witness an Ebola outbreak first hand, reflecting on her time in Zaire during the Ebola epidemic of 1995.

Laurie Garrett moderated this panel at the XIX International AIDS Conference in Washington, DC. Doctors, researchers, and international policymakers discussed the implications of a growing HIV population over 50 years of age and what is required in order to address the new challenges in this aging population, in regards to medicine as well as research and policy.

Charlotte Howard of the Economist interviewed Laurie Garrett about the controversial bird flu (H5N1) research conducted by Dr. Ron Fouchier at the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands. Garrett discusses the contention surrounding duel-use research and the lack of international consensus regarding research regulation.

Forbes summarizes the discussion held during a public health panel, "Pandemic Fix: Seeking Universal Vaccines," at the fifth World Science Festival in New York. Laurie Garrett, alongside leading vaccine researchers and public health scientists, anylzed the public and scientific community's preparedness to deal with emerging viruses, discussing the challenges of immunization campaigns and government intervention.

Lab Matters, a quarterly publication of the Association of Public Health Laboratories, published this Q & A in which Laurie Garrett talks about what keeps her motivated to continue investigating daunting public health issues as well as her opinions on the government's role in global health initaitives.

In a Saturday Extra radio interview, Laurie Garrett argues that we are losing the integrity of the drug, medicine, and vaccine supply of the world because of rapid globalization without proper regulation.

Laurie Garrett is quoted in an article in the Lancet commending the FDA's step forward in creating a global strategy for greater drug safety. The FDA acknolwedged that border inspection is no longer sufficient in the face of unprecendented international importation.

This video documentary and accompanying article analyze the H5N1 virus and examine what might happen if the virus transmuted into a human-to-human virus. In an interview, Laurie Garrett voices her criticism of dangerous research projects that turn these hypothetical mutations into laboratory reality.

Laurie Garett, economist Daniel Altman, and Alexander S. Preker of the World Bank discussed the potential benefits of universal health coverage as well as the challenges that hinder countries from achieving it during a special meeting at the Council on Foreign Relations.

In an interview with Medscape Medical News, senior fellow Laurie Garrett comments on the appointment of Dr. Jim Yong Kim as the next leader of the World Bank, saying he has much to learn in the ways of economics and multilateral politics.

This article in Science Speaks recounts the Research!America meeting in New York attended by global health professionals and congressmen. At the meeting moderated by Laurie Garrett, Representative Nita Lowey discussed the implications of deep slashes in public spending for global health initiatives. Garrett points out the direct impact on New York City, which is home to seven of the top fifty global health research institutions and 80,000 jobs in the global health sector.

Laurie Garrett moderated a panel at a Research!America meeting on global health research and development in New York on April 9, 2012. Panelists included respresentatives from Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative North America, SUNY Downstate AIDS International Training and Research Program, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, and Pfizer.

In this article in the Interdependent, Laurie Garrett is quoted describing the impact of the 2008 recession on global health funding and the resultant emergence of innovative public-private health partnerships.

Laurie Garret presents on H5N1 and the threat it poses to public health at The Royal Society in the UK. In her talk, Garrett uses frightening case studies from countries around the world to underscore the scale of the crisis.

This episode of Foreign Correpondent is an investigative report on avian flu and dual-use research of concern, Laurie Garrett appears to give historical context as well as her own opinion on the threat of this, "bird flu mutant."

In this article in the New York Times, Laurie Garrett discusses America's position to "cherry-pick" the world's most talented medical professionals and the impact it has on the medical workforce in poorer countries.

In this CIDRAP News article, Laurie Garrett speculates on the degree of consensus between participants at a WHO meeting on the moratorium on H5N1 research, suggesting that it may have been overstated by the multilateral organization following the meeting.

In this CIDRAP News article, Laurie Garrett speculates on the degree of consensus between participants at a WHO meeting on the moratorium on H5N1 research, suggesting that it may have been overstated by the multilateral organization following the meeting.

In an ABC News story about the controversial research surrounding the H5N1 virus, Laurie Garrett speaks on the side of the skeptics, stating her concern about the existence of this dangerous man-made strain.

In an article by CBS News announcing the upcoming WHO meeting scheduled to end the debate over the controversial bird flu research, Laurie Garrett shares her concerns about the possibility of the research getting into the wrong hands.

Laurie Garrett is quoted in this Reuters article exploring the safety requirements that restrict laboratory experiments with the world's deadliest and infectious viruses and whether these labs are really as secure as we think they are.

Laurie Garrett is quoted in this Reuters article exploring the safety requirements that restrict laboratory experiments with the world's deadliest and infectious viruses and whether these labs are really as secure as we think they are.

Laurie Garrett, in an appearance on a panel at the New York Academy of Sciences to discuss H5N1 and dual-use research of concern, questions why these experiments were done on ferret models to begin with if the animals have little value for predicting virulence in humans.

Laurie Garrett, along with Michael Olsterholm of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity and W. Ian Lipkin, professor of epidemiology at Columbia University, discusses her position in the H5N1 dual-use research debate in this video from a panel discussion at the New York Academy of Sciences.

This article in Discover Magazine summarizes the meeting held at the New York Academy of Sciences that discussed whether the controversial H5N1 researchers should be allowed to fully publish their findings. Laurie Garrett provides background information critical to understanding the issue.

CIDRAP News provides a detailed summary of the debate surrounding the H5N1 research papers at the New York Academy of Science last night. In a brief interview, Laurie Garrett sheds more light on the issue.

In an article from Foreign Policy recounting the controversy attached to the H5N1 research conducted by two different research teams, Laurie Garrett discusses the security threat such research poses if it gets into the wrong hands.

Norman Swan from Radio International interviewed Laurie Garrett about the deadly H5N1 virus, the threat it poses to human beings, and the consequences that could result when researchers tinker with it.

In an interview, Ron Fouchier, who led the controversial H5N1 research project at the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands, comments on the international debate his research has sparked. He mentions the need to cooperate and engage in dialogue with experts, including Laurie Garrett, because of the impact they have on Washington.

In this blog post, written on World AIDS Day, Laurie Garrett points out the myriad of problems plaguing current funding for and governance of AIDS programming. She implores the global health community to radically change strategies and tactics to account for the realities of the current situation.

This article from the Daily Muse examines why women only make up 21% of policy-related positions in America, with Laurie Garrett cited as a role model for successful women in foreign policy. She is also quoted about her frustrations with gender discrimination in the field.

Laurie Garrett appears on Australia Brodcasting Network to discuss the role of zoonotic illnesses in the spread of diseases, particularly influenza, as well as what can be learned from epidemiological history to prevent future pandemics. She also discusses how this scientific knowledge was applied to the movie Contagion.

In this interview with the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Laurie Garrett discusses her inquiry into the anthrax mailings of 2001 and the importance of looking critically at the government's response to that crisis in order to improve future reactions.

In advance of giving a public lecture at NUI Maynooth in Ireland, Laurie Garrett was interviewed by Pat Kenny about her book I Heard the Sirens Scream, answering the question: ten years on, what was has the impact of that tragedy been on the people of New York?

This blog post from Laurie Garrett criticizes the Declaration of the United National High Level Meeting on non-communicable diseases as being too polite, saying the document does not addess the real culprits behind chronic diseases. She concludes that the global health movement has lost its way and urgently needs to readjust.

In this radio interview, Laurie Garrett uses the fictional story of Contagion as a springboard to discuss the likelihood of a worldwide influenza epidemic along with current concerns with the global governance in terms of epidemics.

Laurie Garrett appeared on MSNBC with Thomas Roberts to discuss the film Contagion, as well the possibility of a widespread epidemic similar to the one in the film and what individuals can do to prevent such an occurrence.

In this clip from CNN NewsRoom, Laurie Garrett discusses the gap between global threats and global governance, as well as what broader public health lessons she wants viewers to take away from the movie Contagion.

In this episode of KPCC's The Madeline Brand Show, Laurie Garrett analyzes the government's response to the anthrax attacks of 2001, including the impact of the $60 billion of federal funds spent on domestic biodefense efforts.

Laurie Garrett and neurologist W. Ian Lipkin discuss with Science magazine the reality of bioterrorism and biodefense, as well as their role in writing the script of the Steven Soderbergh's new movie, Contagion.

Pacifica Radio reflects on the ten years following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Laurie Garrett, along with other witnesses and public figures, talk about the events and consequences of that fateful day.

Approaching the tenth anniversary of 9/11, NPR's Ira Flatlow interviewed journalist Laurie Garrett about her new book, I Heard the Sirens Scream, which recounts her investigation of America's response to the attacks on the World Trade Center.

Brooklynite Laurie Garrett relates her 9/11 story after having witnessed first hand the devestation of the terrorist attacks in this video for the Portuguese-lanugage Público Mais. Garrett discusses the resulting public health nightmare and the eerie effect it had on the nation's psyche.

Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow Micah Zenko interviewed Laurie Garrett about her current projects, what she sees as the most pressing—and least pressing—threats to U.S. national interests, as well as how she started her career in global health.

In a one-on-one interview on the Rachel Maddow Show, Laurie Garrett discusses the health challenges resulting from the collapse of nuclear reactors in Japan and what the Japanese government can learn from the mistakes made by the American government after Hurricane Katrina.

Laurie Garrett explains how wars and climate change affect the health of all the world's people, and that should be was scares us most about Ebola. This feature for the Globalist is based on Laurie's comments on the Diane Rehm Show, "Understanding the Deadly Ebola Virus," which aired on Friday, August 1, 2014..

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Laurie Garrett spoke with Jason Beaubien for NPR's Morning Edition to discuss the case of a man died in New Jersey of a hemorrhagic fever this week. She speculates that "if this had been an Ebola case, if the individual had gone to a hospital and not acknowledged that he'd been in Liberia and it had turned out to be Ebola, that would indeed have been a major failure of the screening system and potentially very dangerous to his health care providers."

Laurie Garrett appeared on KPBS Midday Edition with Maureen Cavanaugh to discuss her visit to San Diego State University, which comes as the World Health Organization continues to treat Ebola patients in West Africa. The virus has so far killed more than 10,500 people in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

On this River to River segment, aired on Iowa Public Radio, Ben Kieffer talks with Laurie Garrett, author of The Coming Plague and most recently, Ebola: Story of an Outbreak, about "over the top" media reactions to outbreaks.

Map: Vaccine-Preventable Outbreaks

This interactive map visually plots diseases that are easily preventable by inexpensive and effective vaccines. The Global Health Program at the Council on Foreign Relations has been tracking news reports on these outbreaks since the fall of 2008.

More About Laurie Garrett

"I Heard the Sirens Scream: How Americans Responded to the 9/11 and Anthrax Attacks" was awarded both Gold (Science) and Silver (Current Affairs) medals in the national eLIT Awards competition in May 2012.